


Notebooks and Strings

by friendscookiesandcr



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Beau is working a case and Yasha might have answers, F/F, F/M, Reporter AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:47:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28028013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/friendscookiesandcr/pseuds/friendscookiesandcr
Summary: Beau is a reporter but like the Cobalt Soul version (aka the job is very loosely based on real life reporters) and she gets called about a case that involves all of the Mighty Nein. But really it’s about Beau and Yasha and getting to know each other while Beau is working on a case."Beau wasn’t sure if it was concern that made Yasha insist on following Beau all the way to her flat door. But she was pretty sure once they reached her front door that Yasha was looking at Beau the way Beau looked at her. She was pretty sure that Yasha had been looking at her like THAT all evening long. She stayed longer just for Beau. She remembered her name. She seemed to notice when Beau showed up. And now she was standing here, in reaching distance of Beau’s bed."
Relationships: Beauregard Lionett/Yasha
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The second chapter is almost finished and I have the rest mapped out so I hope it won't take too long to upload the next chapters.

Beau looked at her phone, five missed calls. One was from Jester and four from Veth. She ignored the one from Jester, probably just a check in to see if she was still on for movie night tonight and called Veth’s number. Veth never called anyone unless it was an emergency. The call went straight to voice box. Fuck, she probably missed her opportunity. She looked around the dirty locker room, searching for Fjord. Maybe they would manage to still catch Veth on her way. Fjord came out of the shower, the only part of the gym separated by gender, barely clothed and very obviously flirting with Avantika. Beau rolled her eyes. If Avantika wasn’t that hot she would have given him even more shit than she normally did, but frankly she was kind of jealous. All of her recent informants had been frat boys and slimy businessmen, the worst kind of people in Beau’s opinion. If her lead on the illegal money trail wasn’t as hot she would have dropped the case after the first pretty boy tried flirting with her, let alone the 10th. Hell, her entire look screamed gay, why could they not understand that. Avantika, on the other hand, was hot, in the bad kind of way. She had red flaming hair and an absolutely stunning body but she was clearly working for Uk'otoa, the shiny new drug dealer that was stirring up Zadash for a while now. Apparently he came from the Menagerie Coast and brought all of his contacts and supplies with him. Nobody really knew who he was or what he really wanted - Zadash’s underground was way too competitive as is - but he quickly made a name for himself. Fjord wasn’t really a reporter, he was mainly a photographer and did a lot of the talking for Beau, when someone needed convincing. But he was from the Menagerie and could not pass up this opportunity. 

Now, however, his endless flirting to gain some information for his case might cost Beau hers. Veth never called unless she heard about a big one. Beau considered just intervening when Avantika kissed Fjord goodbye and ran out of the door. He was looking around, kind of red cheeks and still in his damn towel. Beau wasn’t into guys but she could see why he was so successful getting Avantika to talk, even though the endless kickboxing hours she dragged him to did not do anything for his muscles. 

“Hey Fjord, Veth called, we gotta go. You can change in the car.” She grabbed his gym bag and walked out of the locker room. 

Fjord did not take long to catch up with her. “I didn’t even have time to put on any underwear, I am sure it can wait a couple of minutes.” 

“She called four times, last one was five minutes ago.” Beau unlocked her car. Fjord got in without any discussion, this was some serious shit. Beau tried Veth’s number twice more from the car on her way to the King’s Hall but Veth did not pick up. 

The King’s Hall was a long, single structure building located a little outside of the city centre close to the Cobalt Soul and the Tri-Spire where all the rich people lived and the money was. Beau didn’t stop, Veth’s car wasn’t in front of the building. She must already be on the site. 

“Shit!” Beau punched Fjord in the side. “Fuck, we missed her!”

“Ahhh!!” Fjord rubbed his arm. “stop punching me, it’s not my fault. Shit that’s going to bruise.” 

Beau left out a snorting laughter. Fjord just spent an hour practicing kicks and punches and a simple fist bump hurts? He was weaker than she thought he was. Beau had to think of Veth, she would have loved being present for this. Her favourite free time enjoyment was making fun of Fjord. She tried calling Veth again. No luck. Beau wasn’t sure what to do now. Maybe go home and actually let Fjord change into proper clothes so he could accompany her should Veth call back? Probably the best idea. She turned her car around and drove away from the fancy district back to the Cobalt Soul. The news organisation had a couple of flats located on its property and employees got a special discount. Both her and Fjord had managed to get shared flats. They weren’t fancy by any means but both flats had two bedrooms and a shared living space. Beau’s place even had a balcony, she really couldn't complain. The best part about her flat was Jester, her roommate, best friend, and soulmate in every possible way. Jester was a freelance artist who sometimes worked with the Crownsguard as a sketch artist and was quite well known for her satirical representations of current politics in every Sunday newspaper of the Soul.

Fjord’s roommate was Caduceus, an old college friend of his. They had both studied agriculture together and Cad was now owning his own little tea shop which he supplied with home grown tea. It was pretty fucking great. 

Beau could already see the big blue sign indicating the Soul from the distance when her phone rang. But instead of Veth, Caleb called. Things were about to get interesting. Caleb was working together with Veth on more than one occasion. He was a prosecutor for the Crownsguard after turning down a high profile job with the Cerberus Assembly, the highest legal instance in the empire. The king was often believed to have all the power but it was the Assembly that was truly ruling the Empire. 

“Ah ja, hello, Beau, can you come to Maple Street in the Tri-Spire. Be quick though, there is already quite a big crowd gathering here.”

Beau looked at Fjord. He was still only wearing his towel with nothing underneath. It wasn’t the first time she had seen him more or less naked but he had never worked with her not wearing anything. 

“Can you change while I drive?” 

Fjord nodded. He knew how it went. If Beau would be the first one there the police might allow her to get close enough to get some information but by the second reporter to show up they usually enforced the official rules of only Crownsguard around. Beau knew she was luckier than most reporters. For one, did she work for the official news gathering institution that was meant to control the official government branches and she was also best friends with one of the leading detectives. If she was being honest, Veth was probably the main reason she managed to get so many high quality cases in such a short career span. 

The ride to Maple Street was short but eventful. Beau was driving 20 km/h over the speed limit which was pretty risky on a normal day but today they were accompanied by a multitude of Crownsguard cars. It was a wonder they were not stopped. Maybe enough of the guards and detectives knew her car by now? And while Beau was driving through nighty Zadash, Fjord was desperately trying to change into his clothes. Beau might have only a little bit taken the turns harder than she normally did whenever he was trying to put on his underwear or pants. It was too funny of a picture to pass up. 

After 10 minutes of fast driving and changing they arrived in front of a big marble building. Numerous Crownsguard cars were already parked outside and the building entrance was taped off with yellow crime scene tape. Interesting. Beau knew this street all too well. And she knew exactly which building this was. It was the Zadash office of the Cerberus Assembly. She had spent way too many nights with the rest of her friends waiting outside of this exact building for Caleb to be done for the day, often way after midnight. And then there was the cute little corner bar, one of Beau’s favourite places to go out for a drink. 

Beau and Fjord both walked over to the yellow tape keeping a lookout for Veth or Caleb. Fjord had his camera at the ready and Beau her notepad. Just a normal evening.

Walking over she could see Caleb waiting for her behind the yellow tape. Interesting. What he was doing here was a mystery to Beau. As far as she knew he avoided this building at all costs. Things didn’t end well. 

Beau nodded in Caleb’s direction and briefly let her gaze wander to the back wall window of the little corner bar. Through the glass she could see Yasha standing behind the bar. Yasha, the most gorgeous woman Beau had ever seen in her entire life and about 99% of the reason she kept dragging her friends back to ‘The Fletching and Moondrop’. Yasha never spoke to her but recently she started greeting Beau by her name. Beau considered that as very positive development. There would have probably been much more positive developments if it wasn’t for Caleb not wanting to go back here ever since he quit. Beau was still kind of mad about that part.

“Careful!” Fjord pulled Beau by her arm avoiding her walking straight into one of the uniformed guards. “Stop thirsting, we are here on a job.” Beau could hear his smug expression and rolled her eyes.

“Caleb, hey, what’s going on? I got a bunch of calls from Veth. What are you doing here?” 

Caleb looked very much out of place. He was scratching his left arm, something he always did when he was very nervous, and tried to make himself look as small as possible. “Hello Beauregard. It is very nice to see you again. It has been some time.”

“Yeah man almost a week, you should have joined our gym then we could hang out more.” Caleb ignored her. “Are you alright? You look kind of pale. Also why are you back here.” Beau looked around for any clue that could explain Caleb’s presence. 

He followed her gaze, making sure nobody listened in. “I was, ahh, I was the emergency contact for some reason. I think she didn’t change it after I left. You should come upstairs. You have official clearance I was told. Veth pulled some strings.” 

Beau nodded and followed Caleb into the building. Just entering had Beau feeling disgusted. So many people in Zadash and in the Empire in general were struggling financially and here they were, marble floors and golden walls decorated with fancy mirrors and even fancier art. The building smelled of money. The Soul had its issues, Beau was well aware but at least they were trying to do the right thing. The Assembly didn’t even try to give the image of working for the better of the people. Disgusting. 

Beau and Fjord and a guard that Beau had never met before followed Caleb to the big elevator to the 10th floor. Beau had only been here once before when Caleb went to his office Winter's Crest party and needed a plus one and she remembered in great detail how much she despised everything and everyone at that party. With exception of Caleb of course and maybe one of his old classmates. 

The 10th floor was much busier than Beau would have expected. She could see some of the Assembly people being questioned by guards.

Beau looked around to spot a glimpse of Veth but her tiny statue wasn’t visible among the many people occupying the open office space. So she just followed Caleb and the guard towards the big corner office. Beau was almost certain that she remembered who this office belonged to when the door swung open and Veth exited. 

“Finally!”, she said and pulled Beau into the room. 

There laying in the middle of the room on the floor in a pool of her own blood was Caleb’s former boss, Vess DeRogna.


	2. Chapter 2

The next hour was a rush. It reminded Beau of the reason why she loved her job. She talked to some guards, mostly Veth because the rest didn’t seem to like her very much, and started taking notes. Fjord managed to get a couple of good shots of the strange red eye tattoo that was visible on Vess’ hand before they were kicked out of the corner office, or as Veth put it, kindly asked to leave so that the professionals could do their job. Beau didn’t mind, Veth would keep her updated. Instead she spent some time trying to get intel from Vess’ colleagues but just like Caleb everyone present seemed too scared to talk. And apparently none of them had seen anything. Beau made a mental note of that. 

“They are all fucking useless.” Beau had given up on getting more information out of the people working on this floor. 

“Hmhm!”, a man in a very expensive looking suit that Beau had just finished interrogating looked visibly hurt by her comment. She ignored him. It was his own fault working for the worst organisation of the empire and then not even knowing shit. 

“I have a better idea. I will text Caleb to meet us there once he is allowed to leave.” Beau pulled Fjord to the elevator and out of the building. A sigh of relief overcame her once she stepped onto the cobbled street. People working in buildings like this gave her a headache.

Nodding to the guards in front of the place, she left the restricted area and went straight down the street. From many of her evenings at the bar and even more evenings waiting for Caleb while secretly staring at Yasha, Beau knew that the small window behind the bar had a pretty decent view on the entrance of the Assembly building. Maybe Yasha had seen something. Beau was probably not the first with that idea but she had a contact there - or at least a woman she was lusting after since the first time she had seen her through the window while waiting for Caleb. 

‘The Fletching and Moondrop’ was a small but very cozy bar. It only had six tables and all the chairs were either swings or purple bean bags. The walls were decked out with candles that looked like they were burning for centuries and the bar was decorated with a bunch of wildflowers and fairy lights. Beau was fairly certain that the latter was Yasha’s contribution. 

Entering the Moondrop they were greeted with a nice vanilla and treebark sort of smell. Looking around it was rather empty, no surprise on a Grissen evening. Only one other patron was sitting at a far table staring deep into his glass. Beau’s eyes scanned the room before landing on the bar. Yasha was already looking at them and gave her a shy smile. Beau’s heart made a small jump. Yasha who was absolutely fucking gorgeous, taller than any woman Beau had ever meet and definitely much more muscular. Beau knew for a fact, by ‘accidentally’ slipping and falling into her arms once after drinking a little too much that Yasha was built of nothing but muscles. Since then Beau has had one too many dreams thinking of these strong arms doing much more than just holding her. And then there was her hair, completely black with white tips. The best part though were Yasha’s beautiful mismatched eyes. 

Beau could still remember the first time she met her. It was on a stormy Folsen evening. Beau was standing in front of the Assembly building waiting for Caleb to meet her outside. Back then they didn’t know each other. Caleb was an informant whose contact she had gotten from Veth and he was very late. Over the 30 minutes she was waiting for Caleb the rain had picked up considerably and distant lighting was flashing across the sky. Beau had tried to go wait in the Assembly entrance but the doorman wasn’t allowing strangers in, especially if said stranger was wearing a Soul uniform. Beau had considered just leaving, she wasn’t going to just stand in the rain for any man, let alone one that was working for the Assembly. It was in this exact moment when she saw her first. Yasha was walking on the other side of the street, in completely black clothes without any rain gear and no hurry in the world. Instead she seemed to enjoy the weather almost. She had her head slightly tilted upwards and was wearing the biggest smile Beau had ever seen on her face. Beau fell in love in that exact moment, or at least she started to get very very interested in this beautiful stranger. She briefly debated whether she should go up and talk to her when Yasha turned the corner and left her view. It wasn’t until a couple of weeks later that she saw Yasha again. By this point she discovered that Caleb wasn’t too bad after all and actually quite nice. Together with him, Fjord, Jester and Caduceus they went to the corner bar for the first time. Beau immediately recognised the woman standing behind the bar, mostly because she had been daydreaming about her ever since she saw her that rainy evening. This time she wouldn’t let her change go by without doing anything about it. So she walked up to the bar to order. The stranger introduced herself as Yasha when asked but didn’t seem to be interested in any conversation beyond that. And Beau wasn’t able to have any conversation that went deeper than pointing at the beer she wanted. Instead she just kept staring, at the muscular arms, her tall build, her hair, her eyes...

But Yasha wasn’t only hot, well she was really, really hot, but she was also kind of really soft. Whenever someone gave her a compliment she turned completely red and started stuttering. And Beau had seen her once getting a small bouquet of flowers from Molly, the current owner of the Moondrop, which she went on to carefully press into a book she carried with her. To say Beau was interested was an understatement. And now she finally had a reason to talk to her, like a proper reason other than asking where their special beer came from and then completely blue screening when trying to come up with a response to ‘I don’t know but I could look it up if you want me too.’ She could still hear Veth’s laughter in her head. Usually she was much smoother when talking to beautiful women. Yasha was different somehow. 

“Hey… oh shit.” Beau almost fell when trying to elegantly lean against a bar chair. “Ahh are you busy?” 

“Hello Beau. I have not seen you in a while. No I am not busy right now.” She remembered her name and said it with the cutest accent and she was aware of her last time in the bar. Beau could feel all words leaving her brain with every passing second.

She looked around. Fjord was taking the table closest to the entrance, probably wanting to make sure nobody would not disturb Beau. “Did, ahh, hmhm, did you by any chance see anyone enter the Assembly building earlier today, you know through the window?” She gestured to the small round opening next to the liquor cabinet. 

Yasha followed her hand and gave a surprised kind of look, as if she had never noticed the window before. “Oh no I did not, well I saw some police cars driving by earlier. What is, what is the Assembly, I don’t think I know it?” Yasha’s cheeks turned slightly red as Beau’s mouth fell open in surprise. 

“You don’t know the Cerberus Assembly? Never heard of Ludinus Da'leth? Or Trent Ikithon? Only like the worst human in the empire?” Yasha looked lost. “Are you, are you not from here?” Beau wasn’t sure if that was an appropriate question to ask.

Yasha didn’t seem to mind. “No, ahh, I am from Xhorhas. I only came here a couple of months ago.” 

“Oh, oh cool. That’s, that’s interesting. Ahm, so you don’t know if anyone suspicious came by tonight? … not that you have to really, I just wanted to make sure!” Yasha seemed slightly uncomfortable.

“I am very sorry I cannot help you. I will keep an eye out in the future if you want me too.” 

Beau gave her a smile. The last thing she wanted to do was making Yasha feel uncomfortable. “Yeah totally, I mean if you find out anything you could just text me maybe.” She grabbed a napkin from the bar and scribbled her number on it. 

Yasha gave her a small smile when she handed her the napkin and took out her book. The book that Beau had seen her pressing flowers in. Yasha carefully opened in and put the napkin between the pages. Beau was suddenly very thankful for her dark skin and the darklit interior of the bar. She could feel her face burn. Yasha didn’t seem to notice anything but Beau could swear that she stroked Beau’s number on the napkin before closing the book. Her heart started beating faster.

“Yeah so, ahh, yeah. Just you know call me. Like whenever. You know for information. Or we could go on to a movie or something.” Now it was Yasha’s turn to turn red. She looked down and picked up her book.

“Or not, like I am quite busy right now anyways. Thanks for the beer.” Beau grabbed her glass and turned around and joined Fjord and his table, with her back to the bar. Fjord wasn’t very observant. Maybe he didn’t notice. 

The next hours were kind of a blur. Nothing much happened. Beau went through her notes and her and Fjord tried to find out more about the strange tattoo that Vess was spotting. Without any success. Then after the beer made them both too sleepy to work they started discussing their holiday plans. Winter’s Crest was coming up and neither one of them had a family they wanted or could go home to. Beau liked talking to Fjord. He was a good listener but he never pressed her for information. This evening, however, she was way too distracted to focus on their conversation. Every time she turned around - looking for Caleb of course and not to the woman behind the bar - Yasha’s eyes were already on her. And every time they made eye contact a shiver went through Beau’s body. 

After what felt like hours Fjord got up. “Sorry but I am really tired and I have an early day tomorrow. Mind if we head home.” 

Beau turned around. Caleb wasn’t here yet. She knew that he was probably asked to come in for questions but she was also certain that he would still show up should it not get too late. “I think I will stay for another hour or two. Maybe he will still show up. But you can have my car keys, I don’t mind walking later.” Fjord looked a little unsure whether he should leave her alone but after a moment he shrugged, took Beau’s keys and left. They both knew that Beau was much saver walking home alone. 

What she did not consider was how much more boring it would get after Fjord left. She stayed for a while desperately trying to fight off her sleepiness when Yasha suddenly approached her table. Beau only noticed Yasha when she was standing right in front of her. Maybe she nodded off after all.

“Hello Beau, I ahh, we are closing at midnight during the week so I think if I keep the bar open much longer I will get into trouble. I am very sorry, I hope this will not interfere with your work.” She looked honestly kind of sad about having to kick Beau out. 

“No, don’t worry, I think nothing will happen today anymore anyways. Plus the walk back home will wake me up, I think I kind of fell asleep a little.” Beau scratched her back and looked at her phone. It was 1:15 am. Yasha had left the bar open for longer than an hour just so she wouldn’t disturb Beau. That was kind of sweet honestly. 

“You have to walk home alone?” Yasha seemed very worried all the sudden. Beau just shrugged her shoulders hoping Yasha wouldn’t notice how endearing she found her concern for Beau.

“I can walk with you if you want me to”, Yasha offered, “I just have to clean up.” She gestured behind her. 

“Yeah totally, I can help you if you want.” Was this really happening?

Yasha turned very red and quickly shook her head. “No, no, no, no, it’s fine. That is very nice of you. Ahhh.” She stood still for a second before turning around and almost running back to the bar. Beau couldn’t help but smile. How was she allowed to be this sweet?

The walk home was very quiet. Neither one of them spoke much but it was still kind of magical, in Beau’s eyes at least. It was nice just being in each other's company. Every once in a while their eyes met and both of them immediately turned away in an awkward smile. Beau couldn’t remember the last time she had spent with someone just walking and not really thinking about anything other than how her hair looked and if Yasha was purposefully bumping into her. She desperately wanted to pull Yasha’s face down to her and make out with her right here on the street. And she wanted to keep feeling the shivers that shoot through her every time Yasha’s hand came close to touching hers. She could hear Yasha’s footsteps next to her. Her head was empty. Her heart was beating faster than should be allowed. 

Beau wasn’t sure if it was concern that made Yasha insist on following Beau all the way to her flat door. But she was pretty sure once they reached her front door that Yasha was looking at Beau the way Beau looked at her. She was pretty sure that Yasha had been looking at her like THAT all evening long. She stayed longer just for Beau. She remembered her name. She seemed to notice when Beau showed up. And now she was standing here, in reaching distance of Beau’s bed. 

Yasha’s mismatched eyes were on her and Beau’s heart began beating faster. She could see Yasha’s gaze leaving her eyes and focus on her lips. A strain of hair was falling into Yasha’s face but the taller woman didn’t seem to notice. Beau nervously lifted her hand and tucked it behind Yasha’s ear. She let her hand drift back alongside Yasha’s cheek. Yasha closed her eyes in reaction to Beau’s touch and leaned into it ever so slightly. Beau lifted her other hand and intertwined it with Yasha’s. She could feel Yasha’s thumb brush over her knuckles. Beau’s knees got weak. The air between them was buzzing with electricity. Beau was almost certain that Yasha was able to hear her heartbeat as she slowly closed the distance between them. 

Just in that moment the flat door was rapidly pulled open.


End file.
